The Path of Daggers

Wheel of Time, Book 8 The Wheel of Time, #8

by Robert Jordan

Hardcover, 604 pages

English language

Published Oct. 20, 1998 by Tor.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-85769-1

(12 reviews)

From Publishers Weekly The eighth book of Jordan's bestselling The Wheel of Time saga (A Crown of Swords, etc.) opens with a renewed invasion by the Seanchans, a conquering race whose arsenal includes man-carrying flying reptiles and enslaved female magic-workers as well as powerful soldiers, many of whom have joined the Seanchans out of fear of the Dragon Reborn. The Dragon himself, Rand al'Thor, appears in only a small part of the narrative, but during that time he endures the ugly experience of seeing his magic kill his friends, heightening his fear that his destiny is to slay everyone he cares about. The first third of the book is a little slower paced than is usual for Jordan, emphasizing the growth of relationships, but the action picks up soon enough. More compact than some previous volumes in the saga, this one has the virtues readers have come to expect from the author: meticulous world-building; deft use of multiple viewpoints; highly original and intelligent systems of magic; an admirable wit; and a continuous awareness of the fate of the turnip farmer or peddler caught in the path of the heroes' armies. Unlike some authors of megasagas, Jordan chooses his words with care, creating people and events that have earned him an enormous readership. For sheer imagination and storytelling skill, if not quite for mythic resonance, The Wheel of Time now rivals Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

17 editions

David reviewed The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #8)

Review of 'The path of daggers' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is the eighth book and there is much to like here. Unlike previous entries in this series, there is a minimum of padding (although the lengthy scenes featuring Elayne and Nynaeve are, as always, painful to read and almost completely superfluous to the story; Rand is also largely wasted in this book--his scenes consist almost entirely of AM I GOING MAD? inner monologues). Perrin and Faile are, as opposed to prior books, pretty interesting; we even gain some insight into why Faile has been behaving so poorly, and it's about time. The cliffhangers are extremely effective and made me eager to read the next book. This isn't something that has always happened with previous volumes. Now, if we can just get Mat back into the storyline...